Not just important. Significant.

January 27, 2012

All right, I admit it. The cover got my attention, and we all know you can’t….. But I also looked at the table of contents, and was instantly sold.

So, for at least a little while I am going to read and comment on, The End of Molasses Glasses. Getting Our Kids Unstuck is the subtitle, and if it lives up to its name even a little bit it will be worth discussing for a while.

I really hope you will join the discussion. In fact, I will keep track of everyone who makes a comment and in a month I will give a copy of The End of Molasses Glasses to one of you. Totally random, not simply the best comment, because who’s to judge the best comment. Oh, I guess that would be me.

But it will still be totally random. You can watch the drawing if you want. I’ll have a kid do it.

Now back to this brilliant book. One Hundred and One Chapters! I could talk about this book for a long time!

Chapter one: Teach Children to Believe in Themselves and Don’t Destroy the Dream.

As a kid I fought low self-esteem for about the first fifty years of my life. At least it felt like it at the time. I never remember being told to dream big dreams. I don’t think my dad knew how, and I think my mom just wanted to be a good mom. She got it right. She was a great mom.

But that doesn’t mean we cannot or should not facilitate big dreams in our children. A president or preacher would be cool. A hero or a heroine would be great. A star? Not so much. But we can help our kids dream big dreams. Especially if we introduce them to the love, grace and salvation that comes from God. Because HE dreams even bigger dreams.

So, help your kids be dreamers of God’s dream. Give them encouragement and direction. Avoid discouragement and misdirection. Being a sports star is not a big dream. It’s a long road to failure in almost everything for almost everybody who tries that road. Even the most gifted of athletes rarely makes it out of a sports career intact. So try for something significant, not simply important. If athletics is your child’s main gift, then nurture it. Alongside a great work ethic, sportsmanship, discipline, and determination, they could grow into something significant whether they become a superstar or not.

Prepare your kids to be the best they can be whatever that might be. I like what Clark says, “Of course, I realize that the odds of any student becoming president are small, but that isn’t important. What is important is that we see that there is potential in our children. Once we see potential in them, they will begin to see it in themselves.”*

Maybe they will be a sports star, or a rock star, or a shooting star. As you guide and direct, help them see how they can make a difference in the world, maybe just one person at a time, but hey aren’t each of us just one person?

Believe in your kids and help them believe in themselves, then help them believe in something bigger than both of you; bigger than all of us.